Uso del presente de subjuntivo en niños con Trastorno Específico del Lenguaje

Abstract

Background and objectiveSyntactic markers in Spanish to identify children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have been described in several studies. Complex verbal morphology, such as the subjunctive, has been a sensitive area for these children. This study shows frequencies of subjunctive use in children with and without SLI. The study distinguishes six contexts in which the use of the subjunctive is required: when the verb in the main sentence expresses desire, indirect command, doubt, when it is an evaluative sentence with a copula and with time and purpose clauses. Materials and methodsWe studied 15children with SLI and 15children with typical development aged between 5;0 and 6;11 from central Mexico. The subjunctive was produced through an instrument created for the study in which the children completed sentences with verbal forms of the subjunctive and indicative from different types of sentences from a series of images. ResultsThe results showed a significant difference in subjunctive use between the children with impairment and the typically developed children. In addition, not all the structures that required the use of the subjunctive resulted in its being used with the same frequency: use with predicates of doubt and indirect commands was less frequent than adverbial and volitive use.